JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex Short-Term Adaptation Is Halved After Compensation for Unilateral Labyrinthectomy
AbstractSeveral prior studies, including those from this laboratory, have suggested that vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR)adaptation andcompensation are two neurologically related mechanisms. We therefore hypothesised that adaptation would be affected by compensation, depending on the amount of overlap between these two mechanisms. To better understand this overlap, we examined the effect ofgain-increase (gain  = eye velocity/head velocity)adaptation training on the VOR in compensated mice since both adaptation and compensation mechanisms are presumably driving the gain to increase. We tested 11 cba129 controls and 6 α9-k...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - March 21, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Firing Rate Adaptation of the Human Auditory Nerve Optimizes Neural Signal-to-Noise Ratios
This study tested the hypot hesis that neural SNRs, inferred from non-invasive assessment of the human AN, improve over the duration of acoustic stimulation. Cochlear potentials were measured in response to a series of six high-level clicks embedded in a series of six lower-level broadband noise bursts. This paradigm elicited a compound action potential (CAP) in response to each click and to the onset of each noise burst. The ratio of CAP amplitudes elicited by each click and noise burst pair (i.e., neural SNR) was tracked over the six click/noise bursts. The main finding was a rapid (<  24 ms) increase in neural SNR...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - March 7, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

The Intelligibility of Time-Compressed Speech Is Correlated with the Ability to Listen in Modulated Noise
AbstractSpeech perception in difficult listening conditions depends highly on the temporal processing ability of the auditory pathway. In the present study, we investigate the inter-subject variability of young normal-hearing listeners in the identification of time-compressed speech and how the ability to identify time-compressed speech, as assessed by the speech reception threshold (SRTrate: the speech rate at which 50% of the speech is perceived correctly) is associated with the ability to identify speech in unmodulated (SRTunmod) and modulated noise (SRTmod). These tasks are highly dependent on the temporal processing a...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - March 7, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Neural Contributions to the Cochlear Summating Potential: Spiking and Dendritic Components
AbstractUsing electrocochleography, the summating potential (SP) is a deflection from baseline to tones and an early rise in the response to clicks. Here, we use normal hearing gerbils and gerbils with outer hair cells removed with a combination of furosemide and kanamycin to investigate cellular origins of the SP. Round window electrocochleography to tones and clicks was performed before and after application of tetrodotoxin to prevent action potentials, and then again after kainic acid to prevent generation of an EPSP. With appropriate subtractions of the response curves from the different conditions, the contributions t...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - March 7, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Firing Rate Adaptation of the Human Auditory Nerve Optimizes Neural Signal-to-Noise Ratios
This study tested the hypot hesis that neural SNRs, inferred from non-invasive assessment of the human AN, improve over the duration of acoustic stimulation. Cochlear potentials were measured in response to a series of six high-level clicks embedded in a series of six lower-level broadband noise bursts. This paradigm elicited a compound action potential (CAP) in response to each click and to the onset of each noise burst. The ratio of CAP amplitudes elicited by each click and noise burst pair (i.e., neural SNR) was tracked over the six click/noise bursts. The main finding was a rapid (<  24 ms) increase in neural SNR...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - March 7, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Non-sensory Influences on Auditory Learning and Plasticity
AbstractDistinguishing between regular and irregular heartbeats, conversing with speakers of different accents, and tuning a guitar —all rely on some form of auditory learning. What drives these experience-dependent changes? A growing body of evidence suggests an important role for non-sensory influences, including reward, task engagement, and social or linguistic context. This review is a collection of contributions that high light how these non-sensory factors shape auditory plasticity and learning at the molecular, physiological, and behavioral level. We begin by presenting evidence that reward signals from the dopami...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - March 2, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Cochlear Fluid Spaces and Structures of the  Gerbil High-Frequency Region Measured Using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)
In this study, optical coherence tomography was employed to obtain volumetric images of the high-frequency hook region of the gerbil cochlea, as viewed through the round window, with far better resolution capability than had been possible before. The anatomical structures and fluid spaces of the organ of Corti were segmented and quantified in vivo and over a 90-min postmortem period. We find that the arcuate-zone and pectinate-zone widths change very little postmortem. The volume of the scala tympani between the round-window membrane and basilar membrane and the volume of the inner spiral sulcus decrease in the first 60-mi...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - February 22, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

The Spectral Extent of Phasic Suppression of Loudness and Distortion-Product Otoacoustic Emissions by Infrasound and Low-Frequency Tones
AbstractWe investigated the effect of a biasing tone close to 5, 15, or 30  Hz on the response to higher-frequency probe tones, behaviorally, and by measuring distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs). The amplitude of the biasing tone was adjusted for criterion suppression of cubic DPOAE elicited by probe tones presented between 0.7 and 8 kHz, or criterion loudn ess suppression of a train of tone-pip probes in the range 0.125–8 kHz. For DPOAEs, the biasing-tone level for criterion suppression increased with probe-tone frequency by 8–9 dB/octave, consistent with an apex-to-base gradient of biasing-tone-indu...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - February 7, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

gom1 Mutant Mice as a Model of Otitis Media
AbstractOtitis media (OM) disease is a common cause of hearing loss that is primarily the result of middle ear infection. At present, our understanding of the mechanisms leading to OM is limited due to the lack of animal models of OM with effusion (OME). Here, we report that the mice withgenetic otitis media one (gom1) mutants are prone to OM.gom1 Mice were produced by theN-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) mutagenesis program as an animal model to study OM. These mice demonstrate many common features of OM, such as middle ear effusion and hearing impairment. We revealed thatgom1 mice display various signs of middle ear and inner ...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - February 3, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Auditory Behavior in Adult-Blinded Mice
AbstractCross-modal plasticity occurs when the function of remaining senses is enhanced following deprivation or loss of a sensory modality. Auditory neural responses are enhanced in the auditory cortex, including increased sensitivity and frequency selectivity, following short-term visual deprivation in adult mice (Petrus et al. Neuron 81:664 –673, 2014). Whether or not these visual deprivation–induced neural changes translate into improved auditory perception and performance remains unclear. As an initial investigation of the effects of adult visual deprivation on auditory behaviors, CBA/CaJ mice underwent binocular ...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - January 27, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Modulation Depth Discrimination by Cochlear Implant Users
AbstractCochlear implants (CIs) convey the amplitude envelope of speech by modulating high-rate pulse trains. However, not all of the envelope may be necessary to perceive amplitude modulations (AMs); the effective envelope depth may be limited by forward and backward masking from the envelope peaks. Three experiments used modulated pulse trains to measure which portions of the envelope can be effectively processed by CI users as a function of AM frequency. Experiment1 used a three-interval forced-choice task to test the ability of CI users to discriminate less-modulated pulse trains from a fully modulated standard, withou...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - January 26, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Metabolic and Sensory Components of Age-Related Hearing Loss
AbstractAge-related hearing loss is a multifactorial condition with effects of aging and environmental exposures that contribute to cochlear pathologies. Metabolic hearing loss involves declines in the endocochlear potential, which broadly reduce cochlear amplification of low-level sounds. Sensory hearing loss involves damage to outer hair cells that may eliminate amplification, especially for high-frequency sounds. A novel approach was developed to estimate the extent of metabolic and sensory components (in dB) for an individual, by combining hearing loss profiles to optimally approximate their hearing thresholds (audiogr...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - January 21, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Electrical and Immunohistochemical Properties of Cochlear Fibrocytes in 3D Cell Culture and in the Excised Spiral Ligament of Mice
AbstractFibrocyte degeneration in the cochlear lateral wall is one possible pathology of age-related metabolic hearing loss (presbycusis). Within the lateral wall fibrocytes play a role in potassium recycling and maintenance of the endocochlear potential. It has been proposed that cell replacement therapy could prevent fibrocyte degeneration in the CD/1 mouse model of hearing loss. For this to work, the replacement fibrocytes would need to take over the structural and physiological role of those lost. We have grown lateral wall fibrocytes from neonatal CD/1 mice in a 3D-collagen gel culture with the aim of assessing their ...
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - January 18, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research

Evidence for Loss of Activity in Low-Spontaneous-Rate Auditory Nerve Fibers of Older Adults
This study is the first to successfully assess forward-masked recovery functions in both younger and older adults and provides important insights into the structural and functional changes occurring in the AN with increasing age. (Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology)
Source: JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology - January 12, 2022 Category: ENT & OMF Source Type: research